President Rouhani: US Administration Should Dismiss All Warmongers

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined the country's continued resistance against pressures, advising his US counterpart Donald Trump to fire all extremist and warmonger members of his cabinet.

11/09/2019

5 minutes read

“The US should understand that warmongering and warmongers have no benefit and the warmongers should be set aside and they should leave their warmongering and maximum pressure policies,” Rouhani said, addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday.

He, meantime, said that Iran will like the past pave the path of resistance and stand against the enemies’ maximum pressures.

President Rouhani underscored Iran’s policy to make use of the peaceful nuclear technology, and said if the other side complies with its undertakings based on the nuclear deal, Tehran will do the same.

He referred to the country’s third step to modify its nuclear deal undertakings, and said it was Iran’s most important step.

“We will take other steps too in the future, if necessary,” President Rouhani said.

Trump abruptly announced in a tweet Tuesday that he had asked Bolton to resign, noting that he “strongly disagreed with many” of Bolton’s suggestions “as did others in the administration.”

“I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week,” Trump wrote.

The tweet came just one hour after the White House press office said Bolton was scheduled to appear at a press briefing alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Washington withdrew from the internationally-endorsed 2015 nuclear deal with Iran on May 2018, reimposed the toughest-ever sanctions against the country and started a plan to zero down Tehran’s oil sales.

Under the nuclear agreement reached between Iran and six world powers in July 2015, Tehran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

Yet, Iran continued compliance with deal, stressing that the remaining signatories to the agreement (specially the Europeans) had to work to offset the negative impacts of the US pullout for Iran if they want Tehran to remain in compliance. The Iranian officials had earlier warned that the European Union’s failure in providing the needed ground for Tehran to enjoy the economic benefits of the nuclear deal would exhaust the country’s patience.

Almost a year later, however, the EU failed to provide Tehran with its promised merits. Then, the US state department announced that it had not extended two waivers, one that allowed Iran to store excess heavy water produced in the uranium enrichment process in Oman, and one that allowed Iran to swap enriched uranium for raw yellowcake with Russia.

Until now, Iran was allowed to ship low-enriched uranium produced at Natanz to Russia before it hit the 300-kg limit and the US measure leaves no way for Tehran other than exceeding the ceiling for storing the enriched uranium in violation of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Also, the United States would no longer waive sanctions that allowed Iran to ship heavy water produced at its Arak facility beyond a 300-ton limit set in the 2015 nuclear deal to Oman for storage which again forces Tehran to store it inside country in violation of the nuclear deal.

In return, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) announced in a statement on May 8 that the country had modified two of its undertakings under the JCPOA in return for the US abrogation of the deal and other signatories’ inability to make up for the losses under the agreement, warning that modifications would continue if the world powers failed to take action in line with their promises.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran declares that at the current stage, it does not anymore see itself committed to respecting the limitations on keeping enriched uranium and heavy water reserves,” the statement said.

Then Iran gave Europe 60 days to either normalize economic ties with Iran or accept the modification of Tehran’s obligations under the agreement and implement the Europe’s proposed INSTEX to facilitate trade with Iran.

Iran set up and registered a counterpart to INSTEX called Special Trade and Financing Instrument between Iran and Europe (STFI) to pave the way for bilateral trade.

Then on June 28, Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Helga Schmid announced that INSTEX has become operational.

“INSTEX now operational, first transactions being processed and more EU Members States to join. Good progress on Arak and Fordow projects,” Schmid wrote on her twitter account after a meeting of the Joint Commission on JCPOA ended in Vienna following three and a half hours of talks by the remaining signatories to the deal (the EU3 and Russia and China).

It was the 12th meeting of the Joint Commission on JCPOA in Vienna.

Meantime, seven European countries–Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden–in a joint statement expressed their support for the efforts for implementation of the INSTEX.

Later, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi described the nuclear deal joint commission meeting with the Europeans as “a step forward”, but meantime, reminded that it did not meet Iran’s expectations.

“It was a step forward, but it is still not enough and not meeting Iran’s expectations,” said Araqchi, who headed the Iranian delegation at the JCPOA joint commission meeting in Vienna.

In addition to their defiance of the JCPOA, the Europeans showed more animosity towards Iran and seized an Iranian oil tanker by Britain at the US request.

Acting Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said Gibraltar detained the supertanker Grace 1 after a request by the United States to Britain.

Borrell was quoted by Reuters as saying that Spain was looking into the seizure of the ship and how it may affect Spanish sovereignty as it appears to have happened in Spanish waters.

Spain does not recognize the waters around Gibraltar as British.

Experts believe that the measure taken by the British government in seizing the Syria-bound Iranian tanker is illegal and can have serious consequences for the government in London.

Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said in July the country’s uranium enrichment level now stands at 4.5%, but underlined that the degree could increase if required by political rationale.

Kamalvandi had also earlier underlined Iran’s capability to return to the conditions before the nuclear deal if the other signatories do not remain committed to their undertakings.

Iran started the third step to modify its nuclear deal undertakings on September 6, including injecting gas into the home-made IR6 centrifuges.

The measure was adopted after the Islamic Republic’s announcement of further reduction in its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), it signed with major world powers.

In a letter to the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini , Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on September 5 said Iran would begin unlimited nuclear research and development work from Friday, officially unleashing the third stage of its measured responses to Europe’s lack of action in the face of Washington’s violation of the nuclear deal.

Zarif’s letter came after President Rouhani said that the country would expand its nuclear research and development as of September 6, setting aside the restrictions imposed on the country’s research and development (R&D) in the JCPOA.

“We took the first step in reducing our commitments, and gave the P4+1 a two-month deadline. Then we went ahead with the second phase, giving them another two-month deadline. In the four-month period, we held negotiations with the G4+1, including the European Union and the three European countries in particular,” Rouhani said.

Iran has rowed back on its nuclear commitments twice in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the JCPOA.

Tehran says its reciprocal measures would be reversible as soon as Europe finds practical ways to shield the Iranian economy from unilateral US sanctions which were imposed last year when President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal.